


Stranger

by EthanTheAnnus



Series: Stranger doesn’t always mean danger [1]
Category: Joker (2019)
Genre: Arthur is his canon age of 30, Bruce is 20, Bruce is a nice guy, Cute, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Meet-Cute, Some Plot, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 22:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20919311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthanTheAnnus/pseuds/EthanTheAnnus
Summary: SPOILERS FOR THE JOKER MOVIE!!!Okay, so Arthur’s entire world was going to shit. Okay, so he’d just killed three guys. Okay, so he was still wearing a full face of clown makeup.And yes, he’d just burst into some random stranger’s apartment, but it was ahotrandom stranger’s apartment. So what if Arthur had backed him up against the nearest wall, hands on the stranger’s shoulders and immediately smashed his lips into the other guy’s own?





	Stranger

Okay, so Arthur’s entire world was going to shit. Okay, so he’d just killed three guys. Okay, so he was still wearing a full face of clown makeup.

And yes, he’d just burst into some random stranger’s apartment, but it was a _ hot _random stranger’s apartment. So what if Arthur had backed him up against the nearest wall, hands on the stranger’s shoulders and immediately smashed his lips into the other guy’s own?

What did it matter that until this moment they’d never met, or that this was Arthur’s first kiss, or that the guy was much taller and more muscular than him? None of it mattered. Not a single thing.

What mattered was the stranger wasn’t putting up a fight. In fact, the stranger was kissing him _ back _, making Arthur feel breathless. Then one of the man’s hands settled on Arthur’s waist and the little control Arthur had left completely broke.

He pressed himself closer to the man, their chests brushing. Things may have gone further, if oxygen didn’t decide to be a massive fucking dick and force Arthur to pull back for air.

He didn’t dare meet the stranger’s gaze, his eyes instead darting to further into the apartment, taking in the couch that was there (leather. Expensive. This guy wasn’t struggling for money, that was for sure), the ornaments, the glass coffee table (also expensive). 

The man, who was still trapped by Arthur’s arms (the word “trapped” being used extremely lightly) let out a soft chuckle. Arthur’s head swiveled around to find the source of the sound almost immediately, and he found himself staring into the softest brown eyes he’d ever seen.

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but what are you doing in my apartment? And wearing that makeup?” 

Arthur felt himself flush slightly, and took a half step back, letting the stranger off of the wall. His eyes flickered around the room as he struggled for a response.

“Nice dolphin,” was what finally fell from his lips, accompanied with a hand gesture towards a glass dolphin that was nestled on a shelf behind the couch in the man’s apartment.

The stranger chuckled again, and when Arthur chanced looking at him, he was relieved to find the man looked amused, not annoyed or upset. The man then ran his fingers lightly across Arthur’s cheek, pulling them back with a little of the white paint staining his fingertips.

“You may want to get that off,” the stranger said slowly. “It’s probably not the best for your skin.”

Arthur let out a nervous laugh, and almost winced at how awful it sounded. “Yeah…”

The stranger’s hand slipped into Arthur’s, and he could have sworn his breath stopped. With his free hand, the man featured down the hall, to one of the doors.

“The bathroom’s just down there,” he said, giving Arthur’s hand a small squeeze before releasing it. “I’ll be out in the kitchen when you’re done.”

Arthur nodded awkwardly, praying he didn’t start laughing from how nervous he was. He’d hate to slip this guy his card right now; in fact, he liked how… _ normal _things felt between them for the moment, despite the way they’d met.

“Thank you,” Arthur managed to say, though it came out quiet. He then began to make his way down the hall, hugging himself with his arms and hunching his shoulders a little; he was scared, if he was honest.

Scared that once he’d finished cleaning off the makeup, the stranger would decide that Arthur needed to leave. Worse, that the stranger would call the police while he was in the bathroom. After all, he _ had _just randomly barged into this guy’s house, and kissed him.

_ But he kissed you back, _whispered the small voice of hope inside of his head. Arthur batted it aside quickly, turning the knob of the bathroom door and pushing on it lightly to open the door. He’d learned a long time ago to not listen to hope.

The bathroom was much like his own, in his and his mother’s apartment down the hall, with little differences. The main one Arthur noticed was that blue, and not the pale green of the one in his apartment.

He carefully reached out to turn on the tap, surprised to find that no water splashed up onto his clothing when it first turned on. He cupped his hands under the water, splashing it carefully onto his face. He scrubbed at the paint, at his face with his hands; the paint flaked free easily, falling into the sink below.

After a few minutes of this, it was all gone from his face. Arthur watched as the water collected up the flakes of paint and whisked them down the drain. He didn’t really want to leave the bathroom; he didn’t want to have to look the stranger in the eye as he tried to explain his actions.

But Arthur knew he couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever. After what seemed like years (but somehow still much too quick), Arthur slowly turned off the tap. He took a deep breath, and lifted his gaze to the mirror before him.

Almost at once the sight made him want to throw up. It wasn’t that he looked any different to usual, it was that he’d spotted the defeat lingering in his own gaze. He almost banged his head into the mirror, to shatter the glass, when he remembered this wasn’t his apartment, and he wasn’t alone.

Instead, he forced himself to take a deep breath in. He didn’t look at the mirror for a second time; instead, he just turned and left the bathroom. He could feel the nerves building inside of him, but he couldn’t turn back, wouldn’t dare turn back.

He couldn’t hide in this stranger’s bathroom forever. He stepped back out into the start of the lounge-dining area, glanced at the place that he and the stranger had kissed, mere minutes ago, then took another deep breath and continued into the kitchen.

He almost stopped breathing at the sight he was greeted with; the stranger was sitting at the kitchen bench, idly taking a sip of- tea? Coffee? One of those- while staring at some news article. He looked like he was concentrating fairly hard, and the expression on his face was- dare Arthur say it- cute.

He opened his mouth to try and speak, then closed it again. He didn’t know what to say. A simple hello? Should he clear his throat to alert the man to his presence?

Arthur realised it was about to happen a split second before it did; he couldn’t stop it, no matter how hard he tried. The best he could do was begin to fumble for his card before he began to laugh, that ugly, humourless laugh that hit anytime he was nervous, or upset, or angry.

The stranger looked up almost instantly, startled. Arthur clutched his hand to his mouth, his neck, trying desperately to stop the hideous, awful laughter, his card clutched tightly in his other hand.

“Something funny?” The stranger asked, but it wasn’t in the mean, nasty way most people asked Arthur, the way people who were going to hurt him spoke. It was softer, kinder, and it gave Arthur hope as he held out his card with a shaky hand.

“Sorry,” he managed to mutter before the laughing took over again; god, how he hated the laughing, how he _ hated _it. He watched the man turn the card over in his hands, watched while he still laughed.

The stranger didn’t look as shocked, now that he’d read the brief explanation, and Arthur felt himself begin to calm down. The man hadn’t tried to kick him out, and hadn’t reacted terribly to his laughter, either.

It took a couple of minutes, but finally, his laughing stopped, his nervousness dropped back down to a more manageable level. Arthur rubbed the back of his neck with a hand nervously.

“Sorry about that,” he said quietly, holding out his hand. The stranger placed the card neatly into his palm, and Arthur tucked it back into his pocket.

“We all have things we can’t help,” the stranger replied kindly, then he offered in his hand in a handshake. “Bruce Wayne.”

_ His name. You got his _name.

Arthur quickly took the stranger’s- no, _ Bruce’s _ hand and shook it. “Arthur. Arthur Fleck.”

“Well, Arthur Fleck, care to explain why you burst into my apartment today?” Bruce’s voice was as kind as ever, and Arthur felt himself melting a little in the man’s presence.

“I had… a rough day,” Arthur said carefully. “I was trying to distract myself and… I guess I didn’t really think.”

Bruce nodded, taking another sip from his mug. “Well, I can’t say I’m upset that you picked my apartment.”

Arthur’s eyes widened a little. “You… what?”

“You seem like a sweet guy, Arthur,” Bruce said, eyes flicking up and down Arthur. “And you’re not bad to look at, either.”

Arthur could have collapsed right then and there. Bruce was not only a hot guy, but a hot guy who was into _ him _. 

“You’re pretty alright too,” Arthur managed, eyes trained on Bruce’s face. It was only then that he realised how close the two of them were; then Bruce’s hand slid atop Arthur’s own and their lips were touching again and _ god _Arthur could only hope this wasn’t a one off thing.

The kiss was much shorter than Arthur would have liked, and it took all of him not to whine when Bruce pulled back. The other man was smiling slightly, and he took another sip from his mug.

“Are you free anytime this week?”

Arthur froze. “Uh… I guess Thursday?”

Bruce smiled. “Thursday works for me. I’ll pick you up around seven, okay, hot stuff?”

Arthur just nodded. “I’m just down the hall. 10-”

“Number 10 B, I know. This isn’t the first time I’ve had my attention drawn to you.”

Arthur could have sworn he felt his heart stop. He smiled, hesitantly. “Thursday at seven then.”

Bruce smiled back at him. “Thursday.”

**Author's Note:**

> Joker was such a good movie, y’all.


End file.
